Hi again cgrim3:
While I'm thinking about it, what kind of spindle speed do you have available?
This should be your first consideration, and if you're running production, part of what you might need to get is a spindle speeder...not just the cutters.
On the other hand, if you're not too fussed about wasting time you can run less efficiently and rely on programming strategy to avoid snapping the endmills.
I do it all the time...the essence is not to overload the cutter, and that means three things:
First is not to give it too much DOC and not to give it too much chipload.
The second is not to give it a hugely varying chipload, so no plowing into corners for example.
The third is not to recut chips.
It's amazing what you can get away with if you take care not to violate those things, but as I say, it's not very efficient if you don't have the spindle speed to allow a decent feedrate for the very small chiploads you need to respect.
For a witzy little cutter the chiploads are tenths per flute.
Of course you can't spin it so damn fast you burn up the cutter...I rely on what the published process numbers are for the material in question.
With only 6K of speed, I rarely get into the zone where I will ever overspeed a cutter, but those 50K guys just might.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com